Child sexual abuse is
difficult to define concisely. It takes many forms, and there are complex
layers of the type of abuse to which a child may be subjected; the causes for
such abuse are equally complex, as socio-economic and demographic quotients are
often involved.

Generally speaking,
however, child sexual abuse occurs when an adult coerces a child into some form
of sexual activity. It might include fondling of the genitals, masturbation in
front of the child, oral-genital contact, digital penetration, or vaginal or
anal penetration. In addition, any form of non-contact sexual activity also
constitutes sexual abuse of a child, such as exposure, voyeurism, child
pornography, etc.

Child prostitution,
child pornography, and trafficking of children for sexual purposes also fall
under the purview of sexual abuse of a child. While they will be addressed
specifically later in the discussion, it is beyond doubt that child sexual
abuse has reached alarming proportions globally and needs to be addressed
immediately.

While accurate
statistics are difficult to obtain on the subject due to under-reporting and
also the lack of a streamlined definition as to what constitutes sexual abuse
of children, some studies have managed to shed light on the prevalence of the
problem. According to a study published in Clinical Psychology Review in 2009, 19.7%
of female and 7.9% of male children are abused sexually on a global scale. This
data is based on 65 studies from 22 countries, so there may be more children
who are exposed to sexual abuse.

According to further
studies, in most cases, child sexual abuse offenders are close to the children,
such as brothers, fathers, uncles, aunts, sisters, cousins, neighbors, friends,
and so on. Only 10% of the offenders are strangers, completely unknown to the
victims. In addition, most offenders are male, though female offenders have
been recorded.

Needless to say, when
the victim of sexual abuse is a child, the trauma increases manifold. The
physical aspect of it is horrifying enough -- internal lacerations, bleeding, damage
to internal organs, even death -- but the psychological damage is often
devastating as well.

Traumatic stress,
which includes stress induced by sexual abuse, can cause changes in the
development and functioning of the brain. Children exposed to sexual abuse
often show behavioral problems such as separation anxiety, post-traumatic
stress disorder, or worse. This is even more damaging when children are exposed
to other stressful environmental factors such as parents who are substance
abusers, poverty, etc. Sexual abuse in those cases comes as an add-on to the
other stressors.

Child prostitution is
one of the evils of society, which pervades globally. It is usually conducted
in organized ways, in particular environments such as brothels, bars, and
clubs, or in a particular zone of a city. The organizations may be locally
controlled and small, or large and internationally spread through criminal
networks. In the unorganized sector, children may be coerced to prostitute
themselves in exchange for goods or favors, such as good marks in school. They
might turn to prostitution due to limited economic resources, or they may raise
cash for substance abuse.

As mentioned earlier,
child sexual abuse is not linear in nature but layered and complex. However, in
every instance, the point is that children are pushed by social structures and
individuals into circumstances where adults might take sexual advantage of
them. Sometimes, a child might turn to prostitution coming from a sexually
abusive home. Statistically speaking, almost 10 million children are engaged in
prostitution worldwide.

Often girls as young
as ten to twelve are involved in the sex industry, particularly in Southeast
Asia, though it is a trend found in every corner of the globe. A child
prostitute may typically have sex 10 to 15 times a day, and sometimes this
number goes up as high as 20 to 30. They are held under conditions resembling
slavery -- they are often tortured, beaten, and forced into submission by
depriving them of food and water. They are often drugged to gain control,
potentially turning them to be abusers in the long term. Children often have to
bear the burden of unwanted pregnancies, not to mention social ostracism,
depression, fear, low self-esteem, sense of degradation, and humiliation.

Another act associated
with child sexual abuse is child pornography -- production, possession, or
distribution of pornography that depicts children. According to Aveeda Goyanko
(Child Pornography Statistics, assessed April 28, 2009 in George Mason
University), 40% of those who possessed child pornography had also sexually victimized
children. Child pornography is a multi-billion-dollar business globally. The
Internet is the main platform for child pornography, hosting domains as high as
more than ten thousand by the year 2006.

According to another
protector of children's rights, attorney Andrew Vachss, child pornography is
such a lucrative business that it is no longer restricted to pedophiles. The
ratio between risk and gain is too favorable, as is the return on the
investment. Most victims of child pornography are brought into the field
through their caregivers at some level. Therefore, the risk of capture is low
and this gives the crime syndicate an incentive. Once an image is taken, it can
be mass-produced through copying; even destroying the original copy does not
help as the Internet can always preserve a copy. In most countries, penalties
for child pornography fail to act as a deterrent.

According to UNICEF,
every year 1.2 million children are trafficked in addition to the millions
already held captive by trafficking; the average age of a child being
trafficked is 12 to 14 years, and approximately 30 million children have lost
their childhood over the last 30 years through sexual exploitation. Sex
trafficking is defined by commercial sex acts coerced by fraud, intimidation or
other means, and when the victim is below 18 years of age this constitutes
child sex trafficking. As with other forms of child sexual abuse, this too has
complex reasons for its widespread perpetration.

The first and most
singular cause is poverty, followed by gender discrimination and war or armed
conflict (armed rebels often abduct children and use them for varied purposes
including sex).

Structural inequities
in society give rise to sexual abuse of children in its many forms, and
trafficking is no exception. As the sexual entertainment industry expands, so
does the scope for child trafficking for sexual purposes. In some societies,
children are trafficked for personal services, including marriage. In order to
maximize the profit margin and minimize the risk factor, workers who are the
most vulnerable are chosen.

Shenita Etwaroo is an animal-loving author, advocate, artist, film producer, educator and vegan--and she's devoted her life to uplifting the voiceless of this world for the glory of God. In loving memory of her bunny companion, Neo, who (more...)

"Rob Kall has certainly acquired the firsthand experiences and knowledge gained through interviews to deliver some interesting insights about the "bottom-up" information revolution. Whereas the old 'top-down' systems created stove-pipes and excessive secrecy that blocked information sharing and led to the 'failure to connect the dots' before 9-11, the bottom-up approach should be the main fix. Kall's concept would seem to interface equally well with the founding fathers' idealism in setting forth their democratic theory of governance as with the realism that makes the multi-sourced, bottom-up Wikipedia work. As someone who shares my support of both government and corporate whistleblowing -- which is nothing more than encouraging greater horizontal sharing of information, I commend Rob Kall's important work on this topic."

Coleen Rowley, former FBI special agent and named one of TIME Magazine's "Persons of the Year" in 2002)